Five hot racing bicycles from the peloton in 2019

Mike Cooper

29 November 2018

There is going to be some serious new racing bicycles in the professional peloton in 2019. Here are five machines that may well be seen underneath the star riders in the season to come. You too could own one of these — if you have around €10,000 to spend on a bicycle, that is…

S-Works Venge 2019

Specialized is well-known for creating some of the most drool-worthy equipment out there in bikeland. The 2019 S-Works Venge is no exception. It’s likely that this is the bike you will see Peter Sagan, among others, riding in the great races to come in 2019. First, look carefully at the picture above: notice anything missing? Cables. Not one to be seen — with the exception of that tiny loop near the rear derailleur. This fits in with Specialized’s #aeroiseverything design, which they have applied to this race thoroughbred. The designers say that this bike is made up from a number of aerodynamically tested shapes from which the carbon sections have been chosen. They call this the FreeFoil Shape Library. Mmm, we just think this is one of the meanest-looking wanna-haves in the business. The price for those of us who have to pay for these things? Around €9,500.

Wilier Triestina Cento10PRO

You may see Dutch racer Niki Terpstra riding this beauty from Wilier next season — Terpstra will soon be riding for the Direct Energie team, and their bikes are provided by Wilier. Look carefully and you will also see the lack of cables on this one too, all adding to the aero-slippyness. One of the added benefits of this bike is that it’s designed to take tyre widths of up to 28mm, which is certainly on-trend. The makers say that this bike has 6% (is that a lot?) more torsional stiffness than its previous models. But, to be honest, what attracts us most is that bling-bling paint job. It costs extra, of course, so reserve about €10,600 to acquire this beast.

Cervélo S5 2019

This pure-blood racer is the model that Tom Dumoulin and the other riders at Team Sunweb will be riding next year, as Cervélo is the team’s new bike sponsor. The makers have concentrated on two major areas of development for the C5: aerodynamics (surprise!) and stiffness. So not only is this machine super-aero, it has three specific and different types of stiffness in its design, which are steering stiffness, pedalling stiffness and vertical saddle stiffness. Now you know. Want to buy one? That will be about €9,700, please.

Giant Propel Advanced 2019

Yep, no cables on this one either. Developed using Giant’s AeroSystem Shaping technology, the goal of the design is that every frame tube and frame angle is optimised for minimal wind resistance. All the tubes are elliptical, which results in extra strong shapes with minimal drag. The new professional squad to join the professional peloton in 2019, CCC Team, which includes Greg van Avermaet, Laurens ten Dam, Simon Geschke and Serge Pauwels, will ride these bikes, as Giant is their sponsor. Yours for €9,999.

Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 9.0

The guys from the Spanish Movistar squad like Nairo Quintana may well be riding this beauty in 2019. And, yes, you guessed it: this is a specially-made aero design. The details tell us that “every touch point, every interface, every leading edge” has been made “as aero as possible, but without sacrificing comfort”. We suspect that means fast and furious. It certainly looks ready to shred. And, good news, this one’s the bargain on this list, at a mere €6,500.

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